Oregon State rundown: If the players had a vote, they would probably go with a game-long man to man defense vs. Cal

AP photoOSU's Jared Cunningham broke Gary Payton's sophomore steals record last night vs. Stanford and led the Beavers with 21 points, 17 in a 52-point OSU second half

Friday, with Oregon State athletics

The interesting part about today's 10:30 a.m. practice for the OSU men may be the part where players lobby coach Craig Robinson - or attempt to lobby politically-wise coach Robinson - to play more man to man defense.

It could end up being like one of those old-time Chicago elections, where the result is pre-ordained no matter how the vote goes.

But we'll see. Remember, Division I basketball is not exactly a democracy.

The Beavers - as fans who have followed the program closely know chapter and verse - have relied mostly on zones this season with some attempts at in-your-face man to man mixed in.

The 1-3-1 that was so successful with Seth Tarver at the point hasn't been as successful this season. At its worst, it has turned into an opponent's layup or dunk drill.

And the 2-3 zone and 2-3 matchup zone look has gotten shot up so much (hello, Jay-R Strowbridge) the Beavers were dead last in the Pac-10 in FG percentage defense. ... they have often played 25 or 30 seconds of very good 'D' only to see someone end up with an open shot. ... splat.

There is also the argument that chasing players and trapping all over the floor saps this team's energy and hurts its offense. Which has led to some horrendous shooting, shooting that ranks near the bottom of NCAA statistics (.415 FGs, .284 3-point FGs going into Thursday's game)

None of those gruesome stats had any relevance to what happened vs. Stanford.

Can you believe OSU - after what we've seen for weeks - shot .679 in the second half?

Robinson has said - repeatedly - that OSU is too young, too foul-prone, not quite athletic enough, and not quite good enough to play man to man exclusively.

Some of the Beavers are good on-ball defenders. Cunningham and Lathen Wallace especially.

Some of them, no offense to their moms and dads, could be matadors.

But Thursday night's rousing 87-80 win over Stanford, a game that seemed to turn around because of OSU's switch to a man to man, had not only fans urging more of it vs. Cal on Saturday (and for the rest of the season) but players, too.

If only it was a democracy out there.

Sophomore Jared Cunningham, who led OSU with 21 points vs. the Cardinal, would love to see more straight-up man to man.

So would senior guard Calvin Haynes.

"It helped a lot,'' said Haynes.

"It changed the energy of the game, changed the flow of the game and disrupted their offense. ... they really couldn't get the ball up the floor. It put a lot of pressure on (Aaron) Bright and (Jarrett (Mann) to bring it up.''

Coach Rob's opinion?

"We have some ways to go (before OSU goes full-time man to man).''

The links:

Our game story, with notes and some discussion on this man-to-man debate and reasons why the man-to-man looked so good vs. the Cards